In the related art, there is a vehicle sunroof apparatus configured to allow a movable panel provided in a roof opening portion to be opened and closed. For example, a sunroof apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4858570 (Reference 1) is provided with a pair of left and right opening and closing drive units at widthwise both end portions of the roof opening portion. These opening and closing drive units each include a rail extending in the fore-and-aft direction of a vehicle, a movable body provided so as to be movable on the rail, and a coupling mechanism configured to couple the movable body to the movable panel. The coupling mechanism includes a tilt mechanism configured to tilt the movable panel in accordance with a relative position of the movable body moving on the rail, and a switching mechanism configured to switch the state between a tilting state in which the movable body is relatively movable with respect to the movable panel and a sliding state in which the movable panel moves integrally with the movable body.
Specifically, the tilt mechanism is configured to tilt up the movable panel in a form of lifting a rear end thereof on the basis of a forward movement of the movable body. At a forward position to which the movable panel is tilted up, a switching area in which the coupled state between the movable panel and the movable body is switchable by the switching mechanism is set. The switching mechanism switches the coupled state in the tilting state into the sliding state and switches the coupled state in the sliding state into the tilting state with the movable body moved to the switching area.
In other words, in the sunroof apparatus having the configuration as described above, if the movable panel is in a fully-closed state, the coupled states between the movable panel and the movable bodies of the respective opening and closing drive units are in the tilting state. In this tilting state, a tilting angle of the movable panel (tilt angle), that is, an amount of opening by the tilting operation may be adjusted by moving the movable bodies of the respective opening and closing drive units in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle.
The coupled state between the movable bodies and the movable panel is switched from the tilting state to the sliding state by moving the movable bodies of the respective opening and closing drive units to the switching areas. In this sliding state, the movable panel may be slid along a roof panel, that is, the amount of opening by the sliding operation may be adjusted in a state in which the movable panel is tilted up by moving the movable bodies of the respective opening and closing drive units in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle.
Furthermore, in this sliding state, the coupled state between the movable bodies and the movable panel is switched to the tilting state by moving the movable bodies of the respective opening and closing drive units again to the switching areas. Subsequently, the movable panel may be translated to the fully-closed state by moving the movable bodies of the respective opening and closing drive units rearward.
In this configuration, the limited rail length may be effectively used without dividing the rail into a tilting section and a sliding section. Accordingly, larger amounts of opening in a tilted state and in a slid state may be secured and, simultaneously, the movable panel may be opened and closed quickly without increasing the size of a motor, which corresponds to a drive source of the movable panel.
However, in a configuration in which the pair of left and right opening and closing drive units are provided at the widthwise both end portions of the roof opening, there is a case, for example, where misalignment of the positions of the movable bodies may occur between the two opening and closing drive units caused by rattling with respect to the rails. In other words, a state in which the coupled state between the movable body and the movable panel is switched at one of the left and right opening and closing drive units, but the switching of the coupled state is not completed in the other opening and closing drive unit may occur. If the directions of movement of the respective movable bodies are reversed in this state, lodging may occur in the opening and closing drive units by the opening and closing operations of the movable panel on the left side and the right side different from each other.
Reference 1 discloses a configuration in which an automatic area is set at a forward position including the switching area to control both of the opening and closing drive units automatically. In other words, in the automatic area, the movable bodies of both of the opening and closing drive units are moved to the switching area to switch the coupled states between the movable bodies and the movable panel without changing the opening and closing drive during execution, and then the direction of movement of both of the movable bodies is reversed to cause both of the movable bodies to leave the automatic area. During this time, a change (stop or reverse of the opening and closing operation) in the opening and closing operation by the operation input is not accepted, so that an event of an occurrence of lodging in the respective opening and closing drive units due to the unequal opening and closing operations of the movable panel between the left and the right is avoided in this configuration.
However, in the vehicle, there is a case where a power supply voltage is lowered depending on cranking of the engine, for example, whereby the above-described automatic control may not be continued any longer. In a case where the coupled state between the movable panel and the movable body is different between the left and right opening and closing drive units when starting the opening and closing drive again after the stop, the lodging may occur in the respective opening and closing drive units due to the reverse movement of the respective movable bodies when restarting the opening and closing drive after the stop of drive. Therefore, there is still a room for improvement in this respect.